I can’t watch TV news anymore. I used to be a news junkie, a control freak who thought that by knowing everything that was going on everywhere in the world I could somehow control it. Hah! Was that ever a naïve view. Having worked in local and network newsrooms, what was coming over the AP and UPI newswires was like heroin for my news habit. I used to read two or three … [Read more...] about Op-Ed: TV News? Turn it Off
Talking Transportation
Talking Transportation: Memoirs of a Metro-North Conductor
Did you ever wonder what it would be like to work for the railroad? That’s what Paul Holland did for 39 years, first with Amtrak, later with Conrail and finally as a conductor on Metro-North. His self-published “My Life As A Rear End” pays tribute to his time in cabooses, but it’s his commuter rail stories that kept me laughing. Like the colorful crowd from the … [Read more...] about Talking Transportation: Memoirs of a Metro-North Conductor
Talking Transportation: Avoiding Air Turbulence
“Buckle up folks. There’s some bumpy air ahead”, said the pilot on a recent flight. No need to remind me; my seatbelt is always fastened as “bumpy air”… a euphemism for air turbulence … is my worst fear in flying. It’s the whole “fear of death” thing. Intellectually I know that modern aircraft can survive all manner of stress from changing or violent winds, but can I? I’ve … [Read more...] about Talking Transportation: Avoiding Air Turbulence
Talking Transportation: A Conversation With CT DOT Commissioner Giulietti, Part 2
Editor's Note: This is the second of two articles written by Jim Cameron reporting on his conversation with CDOT Commissioner Joseph Giulietti. Read the first article at this link. Connecticut's Department of Transportation (CDOT) Commissioner Joseph Giulietti is about to finish his first year on the job and his plate is more than full. It’s overflowing with controversy. In … [Read more...] about Talking Transportation: A Conversation With CT DOT Commissioner Giulietti, Part 2
Talking Transportation: A Conversation With CT DOT Commissioner Giulietti, Part 1
Joseph Giulietti is finishing his first year as Commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Transportation -- CDOT. He’s been busy and less visible in recent months, so imagine my surprise when he offered me a one-on-one, no-holds-barred interview. “You’ve always been fair, Jim. You’ve hit me hard but you’ve always been fair,” said the Commissioner. That’s music to my … [Read more...] about Talking Transportation: A Conversation With CT DOT Commissioner Giulietti, Part 1
Talking Transportation: Speed Kills
Speed kills … and I don’t just mean methamphetamines. Speeding on our roads is linked to over 36,000 deaths each year in the US. That’s almost 700 deaths a week … 100 a day. If a hundred people die in a plane crash, we go nuts. But if they die on our roads we see it as the cost of doing business. As one blogger put it… “it’s high time to stop sacrificing safety on the … [Read more...] about Talking Transportation: Speed Kills
Talking Transportation: Pre-Cursor of the Tesla, the Dymaxion Car has Connecticut Roots
Did you know that Bridgeport was once the home of “the car of the future”? It was the Tesla of its era, but only three were ever built. This mystery vehicle? The Dymaxion Car. The designer? Buckminster Fuller. Best known for his pioneering 1940s architectural design of the geodesic dome, a decade earlier Fuller was already inventing other things. It was the 1930s and the … [Read more...] about Talking Transportation: Pre-Cursor of the Tesla, the Dymaxion Car has Connecticut Roots
Talking Transportation: 2020 Hindsight by Jim Cameron
As we review the details of Governor Lamont’s CT2030 transportation plan, I have a strange sense of déjà vu. Haven’t we been through all this before? Journey back with me to 1999 when the famous Gallis Report warned that southwestern Connecticut’s transportation woes were strangling the entire state. If something wasn’t done, they warned, we would become “an economic … [Read more...] about Talking Transportation: 2020 Hindsight by Jim Cameron
Talking Transportation: Reading Old Timetables
I love reading timetables. Not the new ones on smartphone apps, but the old printed ones. Reading about a train or plane’s journey on paper is almost like taking the ride itself. Growing up in Canada, I was fascinated with the two major passenger railroads, the quasi-government owned “crown corporation” Canadian National Railroad (CNR) and the private Canadian Pacific … [Read more...] about Talking Transportation: Reading Old Timetables
Talking Transportation: Connecticut’s Own … Igor Sikorsky
Have you ever flown in a helicopter? They seem such a glamorous (if expensive) way to travel, by-passing the traffic en route to the airport or sightseeing over rugged terrain. But do you know that the helicopter had its first flight ever right here in Connecticut, the creation of Russian immigrant and inventor Igor Sikorsky, 80 years ago. Sure, Leonardo da Vinci made … [Read more...] about Talking Transportation: Connecticut’s Own … Igor Sikorsky
Talking Transportation: Commuting Can Make You Sick
It shouldn’t come as much surprise to learn that commuting, especially by car, is hazardous to your health. Research now shows that the longer your drive, the greater the risk of obesity, heart attacks and even low birth-weight babies for moms-to-be. At fault are a number of factors: STRESS: Being stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic increases your cortisol and adrenaline … [Read more...] about Talking Transportation: Commuting Can Make You Sick
Talking Transportation: The Train Ride From Hell
It was the railroad trip from hell: the hottest day of the year, stuck for five hours on a sold-out Amtrak train where only half the cars had air conditioning. The ride to Washington days earlier had been uneventful, almost on time and pleasantly cool, even though I’d made the mistake of taking a Northeast Corridor train, not Acela. Its older Amfleet cars, though recently … [Read more...] about Talking Transportation: The Train Ride From Hell
Talking Transportation: Airlines That Are No More
Rail fans call them “fallen flags”… railroads that are no more, like the original New Haven and New York Central Railroads. But before I start getting all misty-eyed, let’s also pay homage to airlines that have flown away into history. Like PEOPLExpress, the domestic discount airline ,which flew out of Newark’s grungy old North Terminal starting in 1981. Fares were dirt … [Read more...] about Talking Transportation: Airlines That Are No More
Talking Transportation: Summer Vacation … Fly or Drive?
Going on vacation this summer? If so, the question is … how to travel: drive, take the train or fly? (I’m eliminating the bus option because, well, life is too short to endure that kind of misery. I have no problems with commuting by bus, but a 10-hour ride is not going to happen!) In most cases, the choice depends on how far you’re traveling and what your budget allows. For … [Read more...] about Talking Transportation: Summer Vacation … Fly or Drive?
Talking Transportation: Why the Scorn for Bus Riders?
Why do many people have such scorn for those who take the bus? Forty-one million trips are taken on 12,000 public buses each year in Connecticut in communities across the state (not counting school buses.) Yet, those riders are regarded as losers, not by the transit operators, but by those who drive by car. When Southington was recently considering restoring bus service for … [Read more...] about Talking Transportation: Why the Scorn for Bus Riders?